1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooking devices for meat and fowl and more particularly, to a meat and poultry roaster which is characterized by a one-piece drip pan or bowl and marinade container, which marinade container is upward-standing in the approximate center of the drip pan or bowl for containing marinade and supporting the meat and poultry in an upright position in an oven, barbecue pit, smoker or other cooker. The meat and poultry roaster can be constructed of a rigid metal such as aluminum, stainless steel, microwave and oven-proof glassware or plastic or the like, or a flexible, disposable material such as aluminum foil.
It has long been recognized that in the cooking of meat, particularly turkey, chicken and other poultry, great difficulty is experienced in allowing the desired spicing and flavoring to penetrate the meat from the inside to the outside in order to impart the desired flavor and tenderness to the meat. There is a great tendency to overcook the outer portions of the poultry and meat without completely cooking the interior portions. To achieve the end of flavoring the meat and cooking the meat from the inside to the outside, various techniques have been employed, including stuffing the cavity of the poultry with various vegetables and flavorings. However, this technique suffers from the disadvantage of non-uniform application of heat generally to the outside only of the poultry, typically by using a standard barbeque pit cooker, oven or the like. Consequently, as the heat is applied to the outside of the poultry it tends to overcook the outside and undercook the inside, and does not render the flavoring and tenderness to the poultry in an optimum manner. Another expedient for cooking meat and poultry is the insertion of spikes or nails throughout the poultry to transmit heat from the cooker to the meat. However, these metal spikes or nails typically have a heat conductivity which is greater than that of the meat or poultry, and therefore tend to effect cooking in localized areas around the extension of the spike or nail, rather than throughout the meat itself. The present invention includes the use of a drip pan with an upward-standing marinade container which extends approximately from the center thereof and is of sufficient size and shape to extend into the cavity of a turkey, chicken or other meat and facilitate the introduction of marinade vapors and flavorings deposited in the marinade container, throughout the meat from the inside out. An added advantage of this cooker is the facility for collecting the drippings which may include fat, flavoring and other liquids from the meat into the drip pan, without allowing the drippings to fall on the charcoal or the burners of a barbeque pit or the electric elements of an oven.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various supports or stands are well-known in the art for supporting poultry in an oven or cooker. Typical of these supports is the xe2x80x9cHeat Disseminating Multiple Spit Assembly and Standxe2x80x9d described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,169, dated Sep. 11, 1962, to Bernard B. Rappaport. The device is characterized by a base or stand which rests on an oven rack, and three elongated rods having tapered upper ends are upward-standing from the base for impaling the poultry. The rods extend through the hub of a spit unit provided with multiple arms which extend outwardly therefrom, and potatoes or other fruits or vegetables can be inserted on the tapered extending ends of the arms for roasting inside the oven with the poultry. U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,759, dated May 29, 1984, to James P. Steibel, discloses a xe2x80x9cStand for Fowl Roastingxe2x80x9d, characterized by two elongated plates each having a slot for receiving the other plate in perpendicular, intersecting relationship. The assembled stand rests on a support surface inside an oven or cooker and receives the cavity of a fowl, to support the fowl in an upright position as the fowl is roasted on the stand. A xe2x80x9cMulti-Purpose Poultry Roaster and Baking Rackxe2x80x9d is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,117, dated Dec. 3, 1991, to Walter Schlessel. The roaster includes a drip pan and an assembly of wires which is shaped into multiple skewers upward-standing from the drip pan. An upward-standing prong is formed in the central portion of the wire assembly for receiving meats such as poultry, while potatoes, apples or other fruits or vegetables can be inserted and baked on the peripheral skewers of the wire assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,916, dated Jan. 21, 1992, to Franz Kuhling, et al., describes a xe2x80x9cSupport Element, Clamp Element and Stop Element for the Preparation and/or Implementation of a Cooking Process of Pieces of Meat, Especially Poultryxe2x80x9d. The support element is characterized by a wire network which is shaped into a conical support structure having a generally cylindrical base section, and second and third cylindrical sections which taper upwardly from the base section. The junction of the first and second sections defines a shoulder on which the cooking fowl rests after the upward-standing support receives the cavity of the fowl. A xe2x80x9cRoasting Support for Fowlxe2x80x9d is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,642, dated Apr. 21, 1992, to Robert Ciofalo. The support includes a base member and a conical plug member which is upward-standing from the base member for sealingly engaging one of the open cavity ends of the disemboweled fowl. The support further includes an elevated support member which extends from the conical plug member and is adapted to support the other open cavity end of the fowl at a higher level than the first cavity end of the fowl, to facilitate retention of fluids inside the fowl during roasting. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,602, dated Apr. 12, 1994, to Wlodzimierz Ryczek, details a xe2x80x9cFat-Free Roaster for Poultry and Meatxe2x80x9d, characterized by a pan which includes a detachable glass liquid reservoir upward-standing from the center of the pan. A supply of meat flavoring or moisturizing liquid is contained in the reservoir, and the reservoir is inserted inside the poultry or meat being roasted to moisturize and flavor the cooking meat. A xe2x80x9cDevice for Cooking Fowlxe2x80x9d is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,320, dated Apr. 13, 1999, to Michael S. Demaree. The device includes a cylindrical insert or mount that fits within the interior cavity of the fowl to be cooked. The insert or mount may be connected in upward-standing relationship to a base plate which supports the insert or mount and the supported fowl in an upright position, to promote drainage of exuded liquified fat from the fowl.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved poultry roaster which includes a drip pan or bowl having a marinade container upward-standing at or near the center of the drip pan, which marinade container in a preferred embodiment is constructed of a single piece of material with the drip pan. The marinade container is designed not only to contain marinade and flavoring for flavoring the meat, but also to extend into the cavity of poultry such as chicken and turkey when the poultry is seated on the roaster inside an oven or cooker and effect flavoring and heating of the interior or the chicken and turkey or other poultry to facilitate cooking from the inside as well as the outside of the poultry.
Another object of this invention is to provide a meat and poultry roaster which is characterized by a one-piece combination drip pan or bowl and marinade container which extends upwardly from the center of the drip pan or bowl and is designed to contain marinade and to extend into the cavity of poultry such as chicken or turkey when the poultry is seated on the roaster, and effect flavoring and cooking of the poultry from the inside as well as the outside of the poultry when the meat and poultry roaster is placed in an oven or on a barbecue pit or grill.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a meat and poultry roaster which is characterized by a combination one-piece drip pan or bowl and marinade container that can be constructed of a metal such as stainless steel and aluminum, a disposable material such as aluminum foil or microwave-proof plastic and oven-proof glassware such as xe2x80x9cPYREXxe2x80x9d (trademark). The marinade container may be of any desired shape, but is preferably in the configuration of a cylinder and is designed not only to contain marinade but also to extend into the cavity of poultry such as a chicken or turkey when the poultry is seated on the roaster inside an oven or on a barbecue pit, grill or other cooker, to facilitate cooking of the chicken or turkey from the inside as well as the outside of the poultry and flavoring of the meat more efficiently.
These and other objects of the invention are provided in a new and improved meat and poultry roaster which is characterized by a drip pan or bowl and a cylindrical marinade container upward-standing from the drip pan, wherein the drip pan and the marinade container are constructed of a single piece of material. In a preferred embodiment the marinade container and drip pan or bowl are constructed of a rigid, heat-resistant material such as stainless steel, aluminum or the like, and in another embodiment these elements are constructed of aluminum foil, such that they can be disposed of after the cooking. Other materials of construction are heat-resistant glassware and microwave-compatible plastic. The marinade container is designed to receive marinade and to extend into the meat or poultry as the poultry is seated on the roaster inside an oven or on a barbecue pit grill or other cooker, to facilitate cooking and infusing the flavoring from the inside as well as the outside the meat or poultry. The drip pan or bowl is designed to receive drippings of fat, marinade and other liquid and to prevent this liquid from contaminating the barbeque pit grill or oven.